By Lewis Carroll (author) Part of the Penguin Clothbound Classics series
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Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. 'I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole without the least idea what was to happen afterwards,' wrote Dodgson, describing how Alice was conjured up one 'golden afternoon' in 1862 to entertain his child-friend Alice Liddell.
In the magical world of Wonderland and the back-to-front Looking-Glass kingdom, order is turned upside-down:
A book of wonder and nonsense laced with lethal wit Guardian
Without these two books in my childhood I doubt whether my imagination would have developed at all -- Kate Atkinson
A marvellous confidence in the primacy of the imagination -- Will Self
Two nightmare destinations. Wonderland and Looking Glass. The more I read these books, the darker they shine. Carroll operates on language like a cruel, crazy surgeon -- Jeff Noon
Precise, dream-like, subversive -- Quentin Blake Independent on Sunday
Lewis Carrol l was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson on January 27, 1832, the eldest son and third of eleven children born to Frances Jane Lutwidge and the Reverend Charles Dodgson. Carroll had a happy childhood. His mother was patient and gentle, and his father, despite his religious duties, tutored all his children and raised them to be good people. Carroll frequently made up games and wrote stories and poems, some of which were similar to his later published works, for his seven sisters and three brothers.
He was educated at Richmond School in Yorkshire, Rugby School and Christ Church, Oxford. Although his years at Rugby School (1846–49) were unhappy, he was recognized as a good student, and in 1850 he was admitted to further study at Christ Church, Oxford.
He graduated in 1854, and in 1855 he became mathematical lecturer at the college, where he was a somewhat eccentric and withdrawn character. This permanent appointment, which not only recognized his academic skills but also paid him a decent sum, required Carroll to take holy orders in the Anglican Church and to remain unmarried. He agreed to these requirements and was made a deacon in 1861.
Carroll loved to entertain children, and it was Alice, the young daughter of Henry George Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, who can be credited with his pinnacle inspiration. Alice Liddell remembers spending many hours with Carroll, sitting on his couch while he told fantastic tales of dream worlds. During an afternoon picnic with Alice and her two sisters, Carroll told the first iteration of what would later become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. When Alice arrived home, she exclaimed that he must write the story down for her.
He fulfilled the small girl's request, and through a series of coincidences, the story fell into the hands of the novelist Henry Kingsley, who urged Carroll to publish it. The book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was released in 1865. It gained steady popularity, and as a result, Carroll wrote the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, which contained the nonsense poem classic The Jabberwocky (1871). By the time of his death, Alice had become the most popular children's book in England, and by 1932 it was one of the most popular in the world.
Unlike most of the children's books of the day, Alice and through the Looking Glass did not attempt to convey obvious moral lessons. Nor did they contain what critics have tried to insist are there—hidden meanings relating to religion or politics. They are delightful adventure stories in which a normal, healthy, clearheaded little girl reacts to the "reality" of the adult world. Their appeal to adults as well as to children lies in Alice's intelligent response to ridiculous language and action.
Carroll published several other nonsense works, including The Hunting of the Snark (1876), Sylvie and Bruno (1889), and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893). He also wrote a number of pamphlets poking fun at university affairs, which appeared under a fake name or without any name at all, and he composed several works on mathematics under his true name. In 1881 Carroll gave up his lecturing to devote all of his time to writing.
Lewis Carroll died of bronchitis in his sister's home in Guildford on 14 July, 1898.
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The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and determined it is suitable for children aged 3-18 years old
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass features in the following genres: Featured Books for 13+ readers, Recommendations, Recommended Children's eBooks, Featured Books for Young Adults, Bedtime Stories for Children, Picture storybooks, Children’s picture books, Children’s: picture books, activity books, early learning concepts, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Classic Literature, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Featured Books for 3+ readers, Featured Books for 5+ readers, Gift Books, Children’s / Teenage stationery and miscellaneous items, Traditional Tales, Featured Books for 7+ readers
Paperback, Hardback. £17.09, down from the £18.99 cover price. In Stock.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass was written by Lewis Carroll and published by Penguin Classics an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass has 448 pages
Yes it is part of Penguin Clothbound Classics series
£17.09, reduced from £18.99. In Stock.
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